No. 1 South Carolina women run AP Top 25 streak to 36 weeks Houston, Alabama top AP Top 25; Marquette climbing, Pitt in No. 4 UCLA tops Colorado, claims Pac-12 regular-season title Arizona State stuns No. 7 Arizona 89-88 on Cambridge’s heave In NIL-era first, NCAA gives Miami probation for violation Kermit Davis is out as Ole Miss men’s basketball coach

After a disappointing week of 15 ranked teams losing, South Carolina was the only undefeated school.

The Gamecocks extended their streak to 36 straight weeks, topping the Associated Press’ Top 25 Women in Basketball to tie with Louisiana Tech for the second longest run in poll history, which dates back to 1976.

South Carolina (29-0) finished the regular season undefeated and ranked first again in a nationwide media poll released Monday. Gamecocks is only behind UConn (51 weeks) for the longest consecutive streak in the top 25.

“There’s definitely no relief” after their flawless regular season, said Alia Boston of South Carolina. “Now the season has begun where winning is the only option.”

While the Gamecocks won both of their games last week and entered the SEC Tournament as the No. 1 seed, the rankings have gone through a big reshuffle. The 15 ranked teams that lost at least one game were the highest number of top 25 schools to lose in the same week that season; 11 lost the same week several times earlier this season.

For the first time since 2012, 15 different teams have lost a game, according to Stats Perform. This also happened in one week in 2003 and 2004.

Indiana, who lost on the buzzer to then No. 6 Iowa was No. 2 with Caitlin Clark’s 3-pointer on Sunday. Utah moved up five places to No. 3 after beating then-number one. 3 Stanford to win a share of the Pac-12 title. This is Utah’s highest ranking ever. Cardinal dropped to sixth place.

LSU and Maryland rounded out the top five.

Iowa was seventh and Virginia Tech was eighth. UConn dropped five places to ninth after losing to the St. Johns. Notre Dame was 10th. The Irishman lost defenseman Olivia Miles to a knee injury in Sunday’s win over Louisville.

Villanova moved up four places to 11th. This is the Wildcats’ best result since the team finished the 2003 season in the same spot. Texas made the biggest improvement, moving up seven places to 12th.

Most of the Power Five conferences start tournament play this week. The Big 12 tournament will take place next week before qualifying Sunday and the start of the March Madness.

BACK TO RANKING

South Florida re-entered the top 25 at No. 25 after winning 15 of their last 16 games. The Bulls have one conference game left, in Cincinnati on Wednesday. South Florida was in the rankings two weeks earlier this season. The state of Florida fell out of the rankings.

FALL OF ARIZONA

The Wildcats are down seven spots to No. 21 after losses in Oregon and Oregon State over the weekend. Arizona is 12-3 at home but 7-5 away.

The top five places in the Associated Press poll of men’s college basketball remained the same. The rest of the AP Top 25 was a big hodgepodge.

Houston was No. 1 for the second straight week in a poll released Monday, receiving 49 first-place votes from a media group of 62. No. 2 in Alabama received five first-place votes, and No. 3 in Kansas received eight.

UCLA and Purdue round out the top five. The Boilermakers held on to No. 5 despite losing to No. 15 in Indiana.

In the rest of the poll, only No. 20 Providence held the same position as last week as teams gear up for next week’s conference tournaments and the start of the March frenzy.

Alabama held onto their spot after winning two games despite a tough off-court week. Brandon Miller has played a couple of big games since police said he brought the gun to former teammate Darius Miles, who is facing fatal murder charges.

Against Arkansas on Saturday, Miller’s regular pregame introduction with a Crimson Tide bench frisking him didn’t sit well with coach Nate Oates or anyone else.

“I can assure you that this will definitely not happen again before the end of this year,” Oates said.

Miller scored 24 points in an 86–83 win over the Razorbacks after scoring 41 points in a two-point win over South Carolina.

SOARING EAGLES

Marquette rose quickly under coach Shaka Smart.

The Golden Eagles captured part of their first Big East regular season title in a decade by beating DePaul 90–84 on Saturday to move up four spots in this week’s poll to No. 6. 1 in 1977-78

Houston at the top

Houston came out on top last week and held onto it after a couple of losses last week. The Cougars’ 76-57 win in East Carolina on Saturday was the American Athletic Association’s regular-season championship win, the fourth time in five seasons they’ve at least shared a conference title.

“Our kids know how to win – I say that a lot,” Houston Coach Calvin Sampson said. “But we figured out how to play our system, to be selfless.”

RISE/FALL

Marquette tied UConn’s No. 14 and San Diego State’s No. 18 with the biggest weekly jump of any team in the poll, each moving up four spots.

No. 13 Virginia suffered its biggest drop, dropping seven spots after losses to Boston College and North Carolina last week.

AND FROM

No. 21 Maryland returned to the AP top 25 after beating Minnesota and then No. 21 Northwest.

No. 23 Kentucky returned to voting after a seven-week absence. The Wildcats quickly fell from No. 4 in the preseason poll, but were victorious over No. 12 in Tennessee, Florida, and Auburn.

Pittsburgh finished 25th for the first time since 2016 after beating Georgia Tech and Syracuse last week.

Northwestern’s return to the polls for the first time in two years did not last long. The Wildcats were eliminated this week after losses to Maryland and Illinois.

Iowa State fell out of 23rd after three consecutive losses, with consecutive losses knocking Creighton out of 19th.

BOULDER, Colorado. Jaime Jacques Jr. scored 17 points and Tiger Campbell scored 13 of his 14 points in the second half as UCLA No. 4 beat Colorado 60-56 on Sunday.

Amari Bailey added 11 points for UCLA (25-4, 16-2 Pac-12), which won its eighth straight to end an undefeated February and clinch the regular season conference title.

“It doesn’t change anything,” said UCLA coach Mick Cronin. “Our goal along the way was to win the Pac-12 to try and stay in the West (for the NCAA Tournament). So, we have more games to win in order to try and reach this goal. In addition, we have the longest home winning streak (23 games) in a country that we are very proud of. So we are focused on the state of Arizona.”

With the Pac-12 and the NCAA Tournament approaching, Jacquez agreed with his coach that now is not the time to stop there in the regular season.

“That was one of the goals we set for ourselves at the beginning of the year. And we did it,” he said. “And now we have two more goals that we also want to achieve. And we’ll just keep working hard.”

KJ Simpson had 14 points to lead Colorado (15-15, 7-12). Tristan da Silva, who left the game with just over five minutes left due to an apparent calf injury, and Luke O’Brien scored 13 points each. Colorado narrowly missed a loss to UCLA after a lopsided loss to USC.

“It’s a different feeling after losing tonight than after losing Thursday night and I’m talking to the players about how the reason they are upset and frustrated tonight is because they were wrestling with their tails,” the coach said. Colorado” Ted Boyle. . “They fought tooth and nail and they didn’t make it.”

Buffalo bounced back to take a 45–44 lead after a da Silva three-pointer with 8:13 remaining to end the Buffalo streak 8–2. The game remained tense, with the score tied at 3:41 twice in the final.

Jaques made one of two free throws with 2:17 left to give UCLA a one-point lead, with Campbell adding another basket for the Bruins. Buffalo came back within two points of a pair of free throws from Lawson Lovering with seven seconds left. Amari Bailey was fouled in the ensuing field play and hit both free throws to secure a win over Colorado, who missed a shot in the closing seconds.

Losing a basket at halftime, UCLA scored the first seven points in the second half to take a 35–30 lead. It was the Bruins’ first lead since Jacques dunked in the first minute of the game. Tiger Campbell ended the streak with a three-pointer, the first from beyond the arc for the Bruins, who hit 0-for-6 in the first half.

UCLA missed 10 of their first 11 shots and trailed 11-2 before gradually closing the gap to 30-28 due to Jaylen Clark’s layup shortly before halftime. Colorado was unable to build on their early lead due to their own offensive problems and effectively finished the first half shooting 37.9%, about two percent lower than UCLA’s over the same period.

3-POINT SERIES

The Bruins made one of their 14 three-pointers, but it was enough to extend their 23-year streak. Tiger Campbell’s 3-pointer early in the second half extended UCLA’s streak with at least one 3-pointer to 782 games. The Bruins have not been without three-pointers in a game since hitting 0-for-14 from three on February 3, 2000, in a 78–63 loss at then-second place at Stanford.

BIG PICTURE

UCLA: The Bruins pulled off a landslide victory that will serve them well as they turn their focus to postseason tournaments. They overcame a slow start and uneven attacking play, keeping their composure against an underdog but determined opponent, relying on their defensive intensity to drive the game to victory.

Colorado: The Buffalo put up a huge effort against a powerful UCLA team, going head-to-head with their opponent until the last moments. They have shown that they can compete with the best in the conference and with a young roster they have shown that they have the potential to improve in the near future.

NEXT

UCLA: Opens last regular season home stand on Thursday against Arizona State ahead of Saturday’s final against No. 7 Arizona. The Bruins have the longest 23-game home winning streak since last season…